Wat Kosit Wihan is one of nine temples where ‘emergency’ reservations have been made to hold cremations of victims of the disaster. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub

The ceremony, which began at 8am, was held to bring peace to the souls of the departed.

Present to lead the ceremony were Phuket Governor Norraphat Plodthong and Chen Xiongfeng, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Consular Affairs of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The mass prayer this morning followed the first cremations of five of the victims at Phuket temples yesterday.

The funeral services began at Wat Kosit Wihan in Sapam, north of Phuket Town, where Governor Norraphat led a mass prayer ceremony starting at 7:30pm.

The mass was organised by the Ministry of Culture Phuket office in accordance with family’s wishes, reported the Phuket office of the Public Relations Department.

Present were Mr Chen of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Zhou Haicheng, who as the Chinese Consul-General in Songkhla is also the leading Chinese official to be represented in Phuket.

Resenting Thailand were Army Region 4 Deputy Commander Lt Gen Pornsak Poonsawat and Rear Admiral Jaroenphon Khumrasee, Deputy Commander of the Royal Thai Naval Third Area Command, based at Cape Panwa on Phuket’s east coast, and a host of other high-ranking officials.

It was reported that the ceremony was held as family and relatives of some of the victims wanted to bring the epic tragedy to a close quickly, in Phuket.

Meanwhile, the bodies of 34 victims of the Phoenix tour boat disaster are being kept in freezer units on temple grounds nearby.

When will the cremations begin for the Thai Captain and crew members killed in this tragedy???...oh wait....that's right, they all jumped in the life rafts without helping anyone.

Kurt |
11 July 2018 - 15:25:10

Are ceremonies like this not a hypocrite thing, specially as we know this 2 boat disasters were absolutely unneeded.
The disasters were happening because of greed. For greed were weather warnings ignored.